“In the 1930s Gerhard Hüsch (1901-1984) occupied a position among German lieder singers akin to that of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the 1950s and '60s. Today he's considered the exemplar of a style of singing that went out of fashion with the arrival of Fischer-Dieskau, his polar opposite. To oversimplify, Hüsch's main concern was with the music, using vocal colors, legato, and other bel canto means to convey meaning and emotions, while Fischer-Dieskau focused on the text, emphasizing words - and later, syllables - to communicate a song's message.

Hüsch's version of Schubert's DIE SCHÖNE MÜLLERIN features the natural quality of his singing, less sophisticated and nuanced than his successor's but done in a gorgeous, flexible baritone….Hüsch could more vividly portray the miller's ecstatic joy in ‘Mein!’ when singing that the maiden is his. But such misgivings are dispelled by the rest of the cycle. In songs like ‘Wohin?’ and ‘Der Neugierige’ Hüsch uses his wide variety of colors and a range that covers the gamut from light, tenorish timbres to resonant baritone. In ‘Die liebe Farbe’ he indicates the miller's despair and thoughts of death solely through the voice, all the more moving for its understatement. Hüsch also can touch the emotions with an infinite number of subtle tempo and dynamic variations, as can be heard in the final stanzas of ‘Die Müller und der Bach’.

Hännsler adds Beethoven's ‘An die ferne Geliebte’ to fill out the disc, a welcome addition for Hüsch's forthright rendition, yet another example of his ‘art that conceals art’….the transfers have plenty of presence and virtually no surface noise, so sonics should be no bar to enjoyment.”